Every mom knows the joys of receiving yet another beautifully creative piece of artwork in their child’s school bags … several times weekly! As proud as we are of our children’s creations and would love to cherish and keep them all, unless you have an entire room dedicated to your child’s gallery, display space is likely to become an issue.

Don’t despair because I have compiled a great selection of 5 creative ideas to showcase your children’s art which don’t involve the predictable act of purchasing ready made frames. They are all easy to DIY and cheap enough to install plus they are easy enough to handle so that children can become their own curators!

The great thing about having an allocated space for children’s art means that they will learn to make selections of their best work and repurpose, give away or recycle the rest.

Curtainrod/ Clothesline: There are beautiful curtain rods on the market ranging from modern minimalist to country chunky. Simply install curtain rings with little bulldog clips and hang your child’s selection of best works across a wall in their bedroom. Its easy to change the pictures and the length of the rod will limit the amount of pictures.Another version of the curtainrod is to install pins/nails and clothes lines or heavy twine, making a pretty ribbon at each pin/nail and using little bulldog clips or clothes pins to hold the art. One could even buy cute wooden cutouts from craft stores to glue onto the front of the clothespins. Decorate them with paint and glitter or chalkboard paint onto which notes can be written about the relevant piece of art.

Clipboards: Purchase a collection of clipboards from an office supply store and hang them in a row or arrange them in rows of three. These clipboards can be painted in colours to match the bedroom decor and filled with artworks as they arrive. These can also be decorated by adding magnetic strips to the back of painted wooden shapes.

Frames, Frames, Frames: There are various products on the market which make use of frame ideas. Wallpaper with blank frames, removable decal frames, even frame tape. Simply select a wall in the room and paint it in a feature wall accent colour of your choice to match the room decor and start sticking! Painting your feature wall in chalkboard paint means you can draw a unique new frame to match each new piece of art. This wall could also double up as an additional expressive surface to encourage your young budding artists. Alternatively paint gorgeous frame outlines in contrasting colour to your wall colour. Do you have too many artworks and can’t decide which ones to display? This idea does involve a frame, but only one. Scan them all in, shrink them, place in neat rows, have them printed on A2 or larger and frame. This can make a great talking point in a neat, modern way without the expense of buying multiple frames.

Drawing Table Gallery: Most children’s bedrooms or playrooms have a table for activities or art. Ask your local glass or hardware store to cut an 8mm thick piece of glass to size and sand the edges. Carefully place the glass over an arrangement of artworks laid out on the table which can be changed every once in a while by parents only. Worried about glass? Ask a signage company for clear perspex cut to size.

Magnetic Gallery: Select a display wall in the bedroom, tape off a section and paint with magnetic paint. A border in accent colour can be painted around the magnetic section. Buy fun, strong magnets and arrange artwork in similar colours or cut out shapes such as animals, houses or cars and such from the artworks and arrange them in playful relationships, even creating new artworks.

By applying the above ideas you will find that you have a collection of your child’s best artworks close at hand. Select the 12 best ones, scan them in and have your printers make up a calendar for you. This also makes the perfect gift for grandparents and godparents.

For all the other artwork, scan them in and keep a digital folder/showcase or book on your computer. Save this as your screensaver slideshow. Unused artworks can be filed to be used as personalized gift cards and wrapping paper.